2024 NDMEA Elections
Voting Open from February 15-March 15th, 2024.
Results will be shared at our General Meeting March 21st at 1:30 PM.
Meet The President Elect Candidates
John Bisbee
President Elect Candidate
John Bisbee currently serves as the Director of Bands and Orchestras at Williston High School. John directs and teaches the 9th grade band, 10th grade band, 11th/12th grade Wind Ensemble, an auditioned jazz ensemble, as well as the 9th-12th grade orchestra. He also serves as the pit orchestra director for drama production at WHS, directing The Music Man, Shrek, Mary Poppins, Little Women, and Frozen. He also serves as the interim director of the Williston City Band and co-director of the newly formed Williston Wind Ensemble.
John received his Bachelor of Science in Music Education degree from the University of Mary in 2017. He is currently a student at the University of Florida, pursing an online Masters in Music Education degree. When he is not in the classroom, you can find John playing his oboe or woodworking, either on oboe reeds in his office, or actual lumber in his garage! His professional affiliations include NDMEA and NAfME.
Dr. Kateri Miller
President Elect Candidate
Kateri (Kate) Miller, Ph. D., is the Music Education Professor at Minot State University specializing in elementary music methods. Dr. Miller has been teaching children and adults for over 23 years. Her teaching experience includes elementary general music in both private and public schools, including 8 years in the Clark County School District in Las Vegas, Nevada. She is certified in Orff-Schulwerk, has three levels of training in Kodály and training in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. In addition, she has two graduate certificates from the University of Kentucky: Eurhythmics and Research Methods in Education.
At Minot State, Dr. Miller teaches music education classes and supervises student teachers. Remaining current in her field, she briefly taught elementary general music at Bishop Ryan Catholic School part-time, and she teaches children from the community demonstrating and highlighting the Orff approach to teaching children in a group called Music for Children, which involves teaching third through fifth graders. Additionally, she is manager for Region 8-Class B schools, where she organizes and is in charge of running the music festivals.
Dedicated to professional development for teachers, Dr. Miller is an active presenter and presents original material for teacher professional development at various Orff Chapter workshops in the United States, and many state MEA’s, as well as the American Orff-Schulwerk Association Professional Development Conference. For over seven years, she has had the privilege of training teachers in many school districts across the country to use the GAMEPLAN curriculum by Randy DeLelles and Jeff Kriske. Locally in Minot, Dr. Miller plans and facilitates professional development for area music teachers, including being the course director for Orff Levels held at Minot State. She raised over $9,000 so that area teachers could afford to take the levels!
Active in the American Orff-Schulwerk Association (AOSA), she is the past president of Nevada’s Desert-Valley Chapter of AOSA, registration chair for the 2015 AOSA Professional Development Conference and is a past member of the board of trustees. She currently sits on AOSA’s subcommittee for Professional Development/Research. In addition, she is a board member of the Alliance for Active Music Making. In North Dakota, she serves as the Collegiate Representative for North Dakota Music Educator Association.
Dr. Miller’s research interest includes song teaching approaches and approaches to elementary music teaching, specifically Orff, Kodály and Dalcroze. She has presented her research at NAfME, Mid-South Music Education Research Symposium, Mountain Lake Colloquium, and OAKE. She has published articles in the online resource Reverberations by AOSA, The North Dakota Music Educator, book reviews in The Orff Echo. She was also involved with creating the digital component to the visuals for GAMEPLAN as well as collecting and organizing a Webliography for AOSA on research related to the Orff-Schulwerk.
When she is not teaching or researching elementary general music, Dr. Miller enjoys spending time with her husband Bill, facetiming her granddaughter and other family members in Ohio, joining church activities, and reading.
Meet The West Region
Representative Candidates
Jordan Boehm
West Band Rep Candidate
My name is Jordan Boehm and I am a candidate for NDMEA’s West Region band representative. While I have met many of the current educators throughout the state during my time as a student, and subsequently as an educator myself, there are many who are completely unfamiliar with me. As a way of introduction, and to better inform your decision in regards to this position, here is a quick overview of my musical upbringing and current interests.
Like many educators in the state, I have a long history with band in North Dakota. My band upbringing began in Mandan, and I graduated from Mandan High School in 2010. I then went on to receive bachelors degrees in trumpet performance and music education from the University of Mary in 2014. At that point I moved to Iowa where I earned a Masters of Music degree in trumpet performance from the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls. After taking a year off from being a student, I attended the University of Iowa as a doctoral candidate in trumpet performance, but decided to leave before completion and return to teaching.
As an educator I have already had some rather diverse experiences in a relatively short career. While attending the University of Northern Iowa I was a graduate assistant covering private lessons and pedagogy. For a time I was an adjunct professor for both Bismarck State College and Dickinson State University (through their DSU @ BSC program), and after my doctoral stint, I spent two academic years subbing around the Bismarck/Mandan area for middle and high school level classes. Then in 2020 I accepted the music position at Memorial Middle School on the Minot Air Force Base, where I have overseen many changes that have led to my current course load of two concert bands, a jazz band, 6th grade general music, and choir.
As the director at Memorial, I have taken groups to the NDSU Jazz Festival, Magic City Jazz Festival, and Big Muddy Band Festival to great success. This year we plan to expand that to include the University of Mary Jazz Festival and Raging Red Band Festival. Even with a school population of around 170 in grades 6-8, we have managed to maintain a high standard, and have seen great success in individual events such as the ND Junior High All-State Band and Northwest International Music Festival.
Whenever possible I have always tried to maintain a performing schedule along side the teaching part of things. While attending UNI I was lucky enough to be a member of the school’s faculty brass quintet - The Northern Brass Quintet. Upon my return to the Bis/Man area, I led and performed with a chamber brass group called Symbiotic Tendencies that put on several concerts, including outreach to students at Horizon Middle School. I have appeared with other area ensembles such as the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra, Missouri Valley Chamber Orchestra, Bismarck-Mandan Wind Ensemble, Civic Chorus, Big Al’s Big Band, Joe Friday, Bis/Man Big Band, and am a current member of the Minot Symphony Orchestra. Over the years I have also been lucky enough to find myself on stage with the likes of The Temptations, Dave Douglas, Jeff Coffin and others in both the classical and jazz realms.
Finally, I also attempt to stay active as a composer. My music has been played throughout the Midwest, and can be heard on multiple albums released by the University of Northern Iowa’s Jazz Band One. High school directors will be familiar with my work on Legacy’s school song (with original melody and percussion by Mark Herold). This past spring I was named the winner of the Minot Symphony’s Young Composer Competition, and have created original works and arrangements for choir, band, jazz, and chamber groups.
All of these experiences have shaped my outlook on the profession and what I feel we should bring to students. I love to find new and exciting ways to approach what we do, and would gladly discuss this and other things with anyone who happens to see me at any of the festivals/events mentioned above.
Jacob Wanner
West Band Rep Candidate
Jacob Wanner is an educator, percussionist, and drummer based in Mandan, ND. He is the director of bands and choirs for New Salem-Almont public schools and has performed regularly with local groups such as the Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra and Bismarck-Mandan Wind Ensemble. He has adjudicated various solo and ensemble festivals, coached rhythm sections, and performed in local chamber ensemble settings. Additionally, Jacob plays with musical pits, jazz combos, and churches.
A native of Mandan, ND, he studied instrumental music education at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory and received his Master’s Degree from the University of Mary. He has been awarded talent scholarships and has been privileged to study under mentors such as Scott Prebys, Dr. James Snell, and saxophonist Bobby Watson.
Jacob is a devoted music educator. His groups regularly travel and receive star ratings at competitions. Jacob has experience arranging choral, band, and jazz combo music in a variety of styles for his bands and choirs. Many of his students have continued music involvement after high school by pursuing music degrees and participating in college and community ensembles. The New Salem-Almont music program is community centered: participating in the Cow Town Hoe Down festival, Memorial Day Ceremonies, Almont Labor Day Parade, local sporting events, and talent shows.
Outside of music, Jacob enjoys reading, playing pickle ball and spending time outside with his wife, Jacey, and daughters Delia, Vienna, and Cosette.
Emily Westphal
West Orchestra Rep Candidate
Emily Westphal is a teacher in Williston North Dakota where she teaches Orchestra grades 6-8. She graduated from Concordia College in Moorhead in 2019 with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education. She is pursuing an online Masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Western Governors University.
Emily is a member of ASTA and a NAFME. She helps in whatever way she can by helping the high school by playing in the pit, playing for church, and helping a non-profit group in Williston called Harmonic. When not in the classroom she can be found Walking her dog Oliver and spending time with her husband. Emily also is active in the community playing for church, and helping a group called Harmonic.
Connie Stordalen
West Choral Rep Candidate
Connie Stordalen is in her 26th year of teaching Vocal Music Education in North Dakota. Currently the Director of Choirs at Horizon Middle School in Bismarck, she teaches 6th-8th vocal music, show choir and co-directs the 6th-8th grade Horizon Musicals with her husband Erik.
After receiving her K-12 Vocal and Instrumental Music Education degree from NDSU, Connie taught K-5 music in the Grand Forks Public Schools system for 15 years. In addition to her K-5 position, she was one of the Associate Directors with the Grand Cities Children's Choir and held multiple positions within the summer Grand Forks SPA program.
Connie has been honored to serve the ND choral community over the past few years as the Western NDMEA Board Choral Representative and is the current NDACDA President. Connie enjoys adjudicating and guest-directing around the state for choral festivals such as the NDACDA Surround the State in Song and was honored to be the 2015 NDACDA Middle Level/Junior High Treble Honor Choir Director.
Music continues to not only be a passion for Connie, but also for her family! Her husband Erik is the Associate Director of Bands at Century High School, her two oldest children Konnor and Samantha are currently pursuing K-12 vocal/instrumental education degrees, and her youngest, MeKayla, is actively involved in choir, band and jazz band! Connie would be honored to serve again as the Western NDMEA Board Vocal Representative and would love to help further support choral music education around the state!
Rachel Frank
West General Music Rep Candidate
Rachel Frank currently teaches PreK-12 music at Underwood Public School. She previously taught 5-12 Band/7-12 Choir at Divide County Schools.
Rachel studied music education at Minnesota State University Moorhead and was the founding president of the university’s collegiate NAfME chapter. She has taken Orff Level 1 and 2 and World Music Drumming Level 1. Rachel is a member of NAfME, ACDA, NBA, PWO, and AOSA, and is currently serving as the West Region General Music Representative for NDMEA.
She has also been teaching private guitar students for over 18 years. Rachel and husband Tim have two little girls, Eleanor and Emmelin.
Jesslyn Hall
West General Music Rep Candidate
Jesslyn Hall is in her 8th year of teaching. She currently teaches K-4 music at Hazen Elementary. Previously she taught 5 years of PK-5th grade music, high school choir, miscellaneous middle school music classes, and assisted with high school band at St. John Public School.
Jesslyn is an active member of Prairie Winds Orff (PWO) serving in various leadership positions. She also serves on the Orff Schulwerk Educational Programming subcommittee through the American Orff Schulwerk Association (AOSA). She has completed her Orff Schulwerk certification from University of Mary and Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. She is currently completing her Masters in Music Education with a Concentration in Autism through Boston Conservatory at Berklee.
Jesslyn holds memberships with NAfME, AOSA, PWO, NDMEA, North Dakota United, and Hazen Educators Association. She has received scholarships for advanced training from AOSA and NDU.
Jesslyn participates in church choir and handbells in Washburn at First Lutheran. In the summer she works at the International Music Camp where she has worked many different positions and attended camp sessions as a student.